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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24831481">Dead to Me</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/dcisamtyler/pseuds/dcisamtyler'>dcisamtyler</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Doctor Who (2005)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Reader-Insert</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 04:35:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,636</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24831481</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/dcisamtyler/pseuds/dcisamtyler</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When you and the Doctor get captured by a small group of a nearly-extinct alien race, the Master has to decide between his freedom and saving you.</p><p>Inspired by the dialogue prompt: "If you do this, you'll be dead to me."</p><p>Disclaimer: In this fic, reader uses she/her pronouns.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Tenth Doctor/Reader, Tenth Doctor/You, The Master (Simm)/Reader, The Master (Simm)/You</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>62</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Part One</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Master, don’t.”</p><p>The Master could hear [Y/N]’s strangled voice from a fuzzy screen in front of him, making him stop in his tracks and retreat. He pursed his lips and twisted his neck, his nervous tick. He definitely did not like the bizarre communication system on this ship. With screens and speakers in every single corridor, some of them broken and mangled, others fuzzy and lined with space dust, the inhabitants could hear – and possibly see each other – at any given moment. But there was a catch, he didn't quite understand how it worked, and how he could stop it. </p><p>He stared at the screen in front of him, trying to comprehend the alien technology that worked it. He certainly didn’t want to hear her voice again. His eyes met with a series of black lines and [Y/N] behind it, bits and pieces making up her real face. He couldn’t see anything different about her, but with the tone she had, he could imagine it. Her cold [E/C] eyes, now empty and black as she realized he was leaving them behind. </p><p>So what? She would have to learn that betrayal was a nasty little monster, nastier than the two Time Lords she had gotten herself involved with. And while all he wanted was to brag to the Doctor about how involved they had gotten, now it didn't matter. He tried to shake the image of her out of his head. She didn’t matter anymore. Not her, <cite>definitely</cite> not the Doctor. They were simply tiny blips in an array of stars that he would, eventually, take over now that he wasn’t underneath the Doctor’s fingertips.</p><p> He looked up at the open glass ceiling of the ship, watching the stars blink down at him. Before he got himself caught up in them, he rolled his eyes. [Y/N] probably thought the Doctor had put all of those stars into the sky, like one of those human contraptions with the little pieces of paper. Stupid ape. No wonder why she had gone off with the Doctor when they reached this ship. She was just as stupid as he was. He hesitated as he continued to think of her, wondering where they were keeping them – </p><p>No. He couldn’t do that. He was going to get off this ship. </p><p>After all, humans were just as useless as the Apex – the former owners of this ship. The Apex, thinking they were mighty and powerful, tried taking over the universe. The Apex, white and red clones of their Dalek relatives, betrayed them, pushing their luck. They got invaded and killed by their own relatives, leaving a small group of them on this ship, hostile and living on a limited power supply after the most recent attack. </p><p>When the TARDIS ended up here, the Master had a bad feeling about it. He knew about the Apex. He bickered with the Doctor, insisting they should go somewhere else. Hell, Earth was better than this trash. At least there were more things for him to play with. But the Doctor simply meandered out of the TARDIS as if nothing was wrong. Smug little bastard with his hands stuffed in his brown coat, looking around with amusement. As he always did when they landed in a new place. </p><p>The Master merely blinked at him. It got old the first time. </p><p>The Master warned [Y/N] against leaving him and pulled her to his side. While she gave him a little squeeze, she let go immediately after, leaving him dumbfounded. His own hands sank into his hoodie sleeves as she took the Doctor’s hand. “Come with us, we should explore,” she urged, looking back at the Master with a spark in her eyes. </p><p>Of course, those two ended up meeting the last remaining Apex. The Master wasn’t sure of the details, but he could imagine the Doctor probably weaseled them into that mess, and a doting [Y/N] went with it. </p><p>He could have protected her, but instead, she went off on her own accord. She chose her death. He should have known better. She was human, after all. </p><p><cite>Good luck to them</cite>, he thought as he stormed down another corridor, searching for the Doctor’s TARDIS. He ignored the flickering screens around him, hoping he wouldn’t hear her voice again. He wouldn’t be able to stand it, hearing her beg for him to stay. While he loved to hear her beg and often thought about it in a different situation, right now was not the time. He had old business to attend to. </p><p>Like, taking over the universe, perhaps? Without being in the Doctor’s grasp, he could do anything he wanted. And what he wanted most was to take over the Rohde planet and destroy it. It was his least favorite planet, besides Earth. He had been disrespected by the “almighty” Emperor Avatari last time he visited. He might have threatened their entire race and stolen two fistfuls of glass vials of their most precious resource, but who cares? Everybody in time and space should know one of the Master’s biggest rules: Don’t be a weak idiot and you won’t get your materials stolen. </p><p>Besides, he needed it more. He needed to get his TARDIS back up and working, and with those vials, he had until…of course. He shuddered at the memory. It enforced the four-beat echo that he managed to dull. He tapped it on his thigh with his right hand.<cite>Tap, tap, tap, tap.</cite></p><p>Before he left, the Thosephs, the race who inhabited the Rohde planet, had threatened and abused him. A telepathic trick made his body throb with the drums. It swallowed him. The four beats pounding and pounding against his hearts. He writhed and crawled out of their grasp to escape. When he got back to his TARDIS, it echoed in his head. It echoed so badly his TARDIS hummed a loud distress signal out into space. </p><p>He hid behind his console with his hood up, his hands on his head, trying to stop it. When the door to his TARDIS flew open, he was in tears, and through the blur, he could see the Doctor and a human standing behind him. He quickly wiped his eyes and blinked at them. </p><p><cite>Bloody hell.</cite> He was supposed to show the Thosephs – by Rassilon and all of time itself – who the Master really was and what he could do. But then he ended up traveling with the Doctor and his human pet. </p><p>Now, on the Apex ship, lights began to flicker above him with a sizzle. Like the power was slowly going out – a battery light blinking. An eerie beep echoed down the corridor he stood in, and he narrowed his eyes at it. From a fellow alien, it was a shame to see. This ship used to hum with purpose. The Apex could have been something beautiful. Something worth fighting and taking over. Now, there wasn’t much left but a few weak idiots who took a human and a Time Lord captive, just because they could. </p><p>
  <cite>Why don’t you actually fight, you useless galaxy trash? You’re cowards.</cite>
</p><p>The frustration built up inside him, making him race down another corridor. The TARDIS had to be somewhere around here unless the Apex took it. He cringed at the idea of another alien race putting their grimy hands, or in the Apex’s case, ugly plunger-laser-things on something Gallifreyan. </p><p>It was the Doctor’s fault. It was the Doctor's fault that they were here, his fault that they could get their hands on a TARDIS and his fault that his human was in a cell somewhere. He thought of that smug bastard. He hoped he was feeling some sort of pain for it. He has one job, and that’s to keep his human pet safe. He couldn’t even do that. Bloody useless, him. </p><p>At the end of the corridor, he spotted a staircase and he tilted his head at it. All around him, the gloominess and darkness was beginning to wear on him. He hoped the ship looked different at the bottom of those stairs. All of his surroundings made the drums seem clearer - all the pure electricity and energy that zapped in the air around him. He knew that once he got back to the TARDIS, the drums would stop. The four-beat rhythm that plagued his mind would fade out into silence. The Doctor gave him that much.</p><p>He slowly walked down the corridor, towards the stairs. Keeping his eyes forward, he juggled with his constant thought. He could just leave the Doctor and [Y/N] to die. He could finally be free of the Doctor and his annoying need to save the universe while he tried to take it. And for [Y/N], well, before this, he considered the idea of traveling with her. Alone. She was witty and intelligent, maybe a bit stupid in a cute-human way, but it was endearing. He was going to teach her new skills, and show her the world as he saw it, instead of the fairy-tale rainbow show that the Doctor showed her.</p><p>But when she took the Doctor's hand instead of his, leaving him to stand alone, the softness seemed to melt away. He always trusted [Y/N] to choose him instead of the Doctor. For once, he was somebody's first choice. Somebody that would never be his equal, but close. <cite>Tap, tap, tap, tap.</cite></p><p>Thinking about a smiling [Y/N] trailing behind the Doctor made him swallow hard, a small growl leaving his mouth. He was just about to reach the staircase when he heard the weird dial of a radio behind him on one of the screens. He stopped. He could have sworn all of the screens in this corridor were broken. He wanted to rip metal plates off the walls with his bare hands. He couldn't understand how this ship worked, and it drove him mad. He turned around towards the sound, his boots clamping on the metal floor. His hearts pounded with every step as he looked up at the screen in front of him. White and black spots took over the screen as if he was watching an Earth blizzard. 

</p>
<p>"Okay?" He placed his hands on his hips before shrugging in exasperation. "Did you have something to say, you stupid Apex television?"</p><p>Something cracked behind him. The screen didn't change.</p><p>From behind him, the same strangled voice called out: “If you do this, Master, you’ll be dead to me.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Part Two</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When he turned, he saw her face. Just not in the way he expected.</p><p>This screen was brighter and larger than all of the others he had passed in the corridors. It attempted to come out of the wall in a flourish, but the mechanics were slow, unable to move with the lack of power on the ship. He shook his head. He ignored it while he stalked down the hall, thinking the piece was part of the wall. Now a screen stood out at him right in his face. No wonder why it was pristine. While the others had broken glass fragments, scattered lines, fuzzy snow blizzards – this one brought a crystal-clear image that terrified him.</p><p>There was no rhyme or reason for anything that happened on this ship. It had known which screens to activate and when to affect them. The Apex were definitely convenient, but it was eerie. He couldn’t wrap his head around it. For once in his life, he was simply taking things as they appeared in front of him. Or in this case, behind him.</p><p>Time Lords were intelligent beings. Well, usually. <cite>The Master</cite> was an intelligent being. The idiot who had gotten himself captured by the hostile alien race that lived on this ship? Not quite.</p><p>He could only imagine the Doctor was too formidable with them. Often, he watched as he pulled out one of his million-dollar smiles, offering peace and friendship. He couldn’t smile better than the Doctor and he had been a bloody politician! </p><p>The Doctor had become too human-like, nearly showing up to new planets with a casserole. He had gotten a few of those from his "supporters" while he was Harold Saxon. Trays of inedible sludge. He cringed at the thought. They were easily thrown in the trash, or thrown at his staffers, depending on how he felt that day.</p><p>The Doctor simply did not understand that no alien race, except the Xisneyfns (the weirdest aliens the Master had ever met), would ever want to cuddle with a visitor around a campfire and sing songs. </p><p>He blinked up at the screen. There was no delay this time. No twitching lines to hide her face or the black streaks that ran down her face like parallel rivers. He always wondered what made humans gravitate towards face paint. What was the point of something that made somebody look like a zebra when they got a little wet? </p><p>He took in the sight of her. Her eyes were red and swollen. She stared at him without a single word, tears pooling in her eyes and falling down her cheeks like ribbons. Something in between his two hearts gave way for a slight crack, and a feeling pooled like blood into his chest. He stopped and ripped his eyes away from her. </p><p>The Master didn’t feel regret over humans. He certainly didn’t feel <cite>love</cite> for humans. The only regret the Master felt was letting the drums affect him. Instead of cowering in the corner and letting the Doctor take him, he could have stomped off his TARDIS back to the Thosephs, exploding their atrocity of a planet into stardust.</p><p>His finger continued to tap on his thigh, the frustration growing inside of him. All he needed was to find the bloody TARDIS to stop it, and then he could run away forever.</p><p>He didn’t know how many corridors this ship had, but it seemed like an endless maze. It stretched out larger than the TARDIS. From above, it must have looked like an enormous spiderweb – all of the long corridors extending out into branches. </p><p>Or... like the rays of the sun in the tattoo on [Y/N]’s ribs. He closed his eyes for a moment, remembering the first time he ran his fingers over that tattoo.</p><p>“You know, the sun doesn’t look like that,” he teased, trailing a finger down her chest, circling the tattoo.</p><p>He had his head propped up with his elbow on her pillow, studying her face under the moonlight of her ceiling. For the first time, he was exploring her body, and she let him touch the bare skin in between her top and shorts. The warmth of her human body against his cold Time Lord skin.</p><p>She moved to mirror him, placing a hand over his. “Oh, because you’ve seen it, have you?”</p><p>“You’ve never seen <cite>the sun</cite>?”</p><p>“Master, if you keep talking, I’ll set up a personal visit for the both of us.”</p><p>The Master had pulled his hand back, impressed with the mouth on that little human. How feisty she was at her size when she was minuscule in galaxy standards. As his head conjured up the rest of that memory, the way her lips felt on his –</p><p>Something cracked. Then fizzled.</p><p>All of it echoed against the metallic walls that surrounded him. He didn’t even get to turn before the ship jolted, throwing him against the wall. The screens around him flashed as he grunted, clutching the arm that broke the fall, shaking it out as if it was good as new.</p><p>He decided it right then. He’d forget the Thosephs, for now. He hated the bloody Apex and their broken spaceship.</p><p>Now, he knew exactly what this action was – what they were doing with their own spaceship. It was unfathomable for him. At this moment, all of his previous thoughts of the Apex were proven correct. They were insane bastards who thought what they were doing to themselves and their prisoners was honorable.</p><p>And worse, they had to have known he was wandering the halls, looking for the TARDIS. At this moment, he finally understood. If he didn’t find the TARDIS, he certainly wasn’t going to make it out of this spaceship alive.</p><p>The Apex race was known for being like kamikazes. If they were going to kill on behalf of their race, they would take themselves along with the victims. In this case, they were taking the ship completely off its limited power supply and letting it die, like a computer, draining its power without the charging cable. </p><p>Before, the ship was broken. Now, it was completely unstable.</p><p>The Master shuddered, feeling a chill run down his spine, despite the heat of the ship. How did they all get themselves to this point? If only the Doctor and [Y/N] had listened to him, for once. Those stupid wide-eyed travelers saw the good in everybody. Especially the human. Once, she had thrown a polite smile in the direction of an alien who had nearly thrown one of its poisonous spikes at her. The Master had to yank her out of the way. </p><p>He hated it, but of course – she saw the good in him. It was her idea to let him travel with them. The Doctor had been unsure, wondering if he would just keep him locked up in the TARDIS library, or one of the bedrooms. He remembered how the Doctor studied his face as [Y/N] grinned at him. </p><p>“C’mon, what could he do to us, Doctor?” She asked the Doctor, shrugging her shoulders as if she wasn’t standing in front of a murderous Time Lord, driven mad by a sound in his own mind. She continued speaking before the Doctor could open his mouth and protest, coming up with plenty of ways the Master could hurt them. “Remember the time we met Napoleon? This guy is not much taller.”</p><p>The sarcasm practically dripped off her tongue. The Master had blinked at her. He couldn’t remember a time when one of the Doctor’s pets spoke like that to anybody. Martha was a bit mouthy, but that was ignorable. This one was making jabs at his <cite>height</cite>.</p><p>The Doctor sniffed, pursing his lips. “Same sort of complex too,” he mumbled, leaning in closer to [Y/N]’s side as if they shared a secret. The Master watched as they both laughed, knowing he could kill them both with a snap of his fingers.</p><p>Something endearing twinkled in the girl’s eyes. The Master noticed. Though he wouldn’t admit it at first. She was human, for Rassilon’s sake.</p><p>“And, well...he’s handsome,” the girl stated. There was something in his hazel eyes, she thought. A loneliness she couldn’t fathom. Something red and burning.</p><p>Both Time Lords had looked at her like she had become a Cyberman in front of them. </p><p>“I-I’m sorry, what was that?” The Doctor sputtered. He ran a hand over his tousled brown hair, looking between his companion and the Master.</p><p>The Master let out a loud chuckle as if he had finally won the most epic prize in all of creation. The Doctor was incredulous, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. </p><p>The Master had figured they were a romantic item. The Doctor tended to do that with all of his pets. And this one, particularly, wasn’t too bad on the eyes. He wouldn’t blame him if he had. The Master could ignore the jab at his height. After all, she was still half a foot shorter than him. But he couldn’t ignore that comment, and how high he could hold it over the Doctor’s head. He smirked at the Doctor and clicked his tongue. “Did you hear that, Doctor?”</p><p>She was wrong, though. He could do so many things to them. He could destroy her entire planet and he nearly had. He was the bloody Prime Minister, after all.</p><p>He wasn’t even supposed to continue traveling with them. He was supposed to ditch them at the first opportunity. He would make an excuse, watch them leave, and wander back into the TARDIS to fly off on his own.</p><p>But the first time they stopped off at a new planet, [Y/N] grabbed his hand before he could make it to the door. “You’re mine,” she simply said.</p><p>Hearing that phrase stopped his hearts. The Time Lords were possessive and that phrase weighed a hell-of-a-lot heavier than that little human thought. In Gallifrey, you didn’t say that to anybody, unless you truly meant it. Humans definitely didn’t say it to Time Lords.</p><p>“I’m <cite>what</cite>?” He spat.</p><p>[Y/N] smiled. “My travel buddy.”</p><p>Before he could even protest, she squeezed his hand and took him running out of the TARDIS with her, right into an entire world she had never seen before, not even knowing what waited for her out there.</p><p>He usually found humans boring and tiresome – bones and flesh with a mouth that should be kept closed. Especially all of the Doctor’s pets. He didn’t know why the Doctor chose them. None of them were particularly interesting, but [Y/N] was truly something different. </p><p>Much to the Doctor’s chagrin, [Y/N] would let him tell her stories of the places he had been before the Doctor. He’d tell her about the beautiful Gallifrey, her mouth open and wide, enraptured by every word. The Doctor always groaned, sulking off to go work on some piece of the TARDIS.</p><p>Every time the Master walked by [Y/N]’s bedroom door, he would peek in to see her. She’d be reading a book written by a human author – she hadn’t quite made it to the alien side of the TARDIS library. All he wanted was to burrow his body next to hers, and maybe, even read one of his favorite Gallifreyan books to her. </p><p>On the TARDIS, the drums were silent, but he could still feel them deep down in his veins. A vicious tapping he didn’t have to hear to know it was there. When he was with her, near her, telling her stories or listening to her stories about her human life (even if they were awfully boring), she took the feeling away.</p><p>One night, he had gotten the courage to do it. She blinked at him through the darkness, almost asleep. The only thing illuminating his face was the TARDIS-made portrait of what [Y/N] called "Earthrise" – the view of the Earth from the moon, blanketing the entire ceiling of her bedroom. When he hesitated as he crept into the room, she extended a hand with a smile, like she had the very first trip.</p><p>He wasn’t sure why she never cowered in his presence. She was nothing but kind to him when he didn’t deserve it.</p><p>Once, they were in a village in New New Hampshire (near New New York) when a bad attack of the drums happened outside of the TARDIS. She was watching the ocean waves lap over the banks of New Portsmouth when she spotted him. Without a thought, she took him into her arms as he shivered, scratching at her until he finally relaxed. He could have killed her. The drums always drove him to kill, but there she sat in the sand, cuddling the Time Lord, not even caring that if he just moved an inch or two, he could snap her neck.</p><p>She knew he didn’t want to. Not her.</p><p>The Master shook his head, clearing the image of New New Hampshire out of his head. Over time, he let that little human worm her way into his chest. He had promised her that he would always keep her safe.</p><p>He thought of her threat. He wouldn’t let that happen. He opened his eyes and forced himself to stop tapping. He balled his hands into fists, looking around at all of the screens in the corridor. Somehow, in his reverie, he had slid down the wall onto the floor. He scrambled to his feet. </p><p>For once, he just wanted this stupid ship to cooperate with him.</p><p>He glanced around, feeling stupid. He wasn’t sure how the communication system worked. How it picked up on his voice. Was it like that stupid voice on [Y/N]’s phone? He knew he was being watched, but he wasn’t sure who was watching him.</p><p>“[Y/N]?” He called. He didn’t even know if she could hear him. But he needed her to, and he needed to say it out loud so every single alien and human on that ship could hear him.</p><p>There was a fuzzy zap as the screen in front of him came to life. He could see her face and hear her voice, clear as day. “Master?”</p><p>He loved it when she used his name.</p><p>He smiled one of the Doctor’s million-dollar smiles. “I’m coming to get you.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>As always, thanks for reading! Let me know what you think :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Part Three</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He took in a sharp breath as the screen went out with a mechanic zap. He wanted to see her now. All he wanted was to be back in [Y/N]’s bedroom, cuddled up under her moon portrait, listening to her read Shakespeare, or some other overrated Earth writer. At this point, he would sit there and listen to her read the TARDIS handbook, if it meant being near her again. He could feel his finger start to tap again as the stress built in his chest. No, he wouldn’t do it. He would stop the tapping, for now. He needed to concentrate, needed to know which direction to choose.</p>
<p>All of the corridors on the ship were unmarked. The Apex were useless on that front. No numbers, no lettering. Everything was steel-gray and metallic with lines of black paint. Metal grates lined his feet, but he couldn’t see underneath. He looked up at all the overhead lights. They continued to blink at him as if they were mocking him. Many lights in other corridors had already died out, leaving some of the corridors dark and unable to navigate. </p>
<p>He glanced around again and continued walking up the current corridor. He wasn’t going to let the drumming affect him. Not now. For once, he was going to be the hero. He couldn’t wait to see the look on the Doctor’s face when he found them. When the Doctor realized that he wasn’t the superior Time Lord after all. The Master could finally bask in all of the glory with his favorite little human by his side.</p>
<p>He stopped, remembering the Doctor. How could he hear from [Y/N] but not the Doctor? Where was the Doctor? Had they killed him already? He cringed. Bloody Apex. Only he got to choose when or if the Doctor died.</p>
<p>“Doctor!” He shouted, to no reply. He heaved an annoyed sigh. Worth a shot.</p>
<p>As he trailed up and down different corridors, he became hyperaware of everything going on around him. His breathing. The metal grates grinding underneath his footsteps. The sizzling and zapping of the power slowly going out without a source.</p>
<p>He could sense it now. He was running out of time.</p>
<p>The ship had to be on its last few hours of power. He stalked down the dark of another corridor. This one was completely dark, and he pulled out the weak light of his laser screwdriver. </p>
<p>Finally, he found another staircase. He felt the power draining and looked at one of the screens in front of him. It was blank, but he had to try it.</p>
<p>“[Y/N]!” The Master called out.</p>
<p>He could hear a screen behind him shuffling and zapping to life. He ran to it.</p>
<p>“Master! Please!” The Master felt his hearts drop at once. The sound of her voice in pain seared right through him. He needed to be there with her. Needed to hold her.</p>
<p>“[Y/N], love, I’m coming. I promise.”<br/>“Master!” Her voice echoed, as a robotic-sounding voice whined behind her. “They’re leaving us!”</p>
<p>“[Y/N], can you tell me what you see? Do you see them?”</p>
<p>He gritted his teeth at the sound of the Apex. Their robotic voices were just an octave higher than the Daleks and he could hear them whine behind her.</p>
<p>The Master ran a palm over his face. “[Y/N], what are they SAYING?”</p>
<p>Now, the screen flickered as the girl started to talk and he only got bits and pieces. </p>
<p>“They’re. Room. Alone. We’re dying.” Her voice cut in and out, and the Master had to resist punching the screen. “The Doctor. Hurt.”</p>
<p>He couldn’t believe it. If he ran into one of those ugly pepper pots –</p>
<p>“Master!” She yelled again, her voice covered in pain.</p>
<p>“[Y/N], can you tell me what you see?” The Master repeated.</p>
<p>The ship was dying and he couldn’t waste time running down corridors anymore, especially as the lights died out. It would be useless. He needed to find her.</p>
<p>“They took us” – she gasped for breath – “down a corridor with a metal cage.”</p>
<p>The Master punched the wall before bracing it with his hands. The entire ship was made out of metal walls and metal cages. “Anything else?”</p>
<p>He watched as she squirmed out of view. His hearts pounded. He needed her to show up again. To say something. To help him.</p>
<p>She shifted back onto the screen. “There’s a room” she breathed. Her voice was quieter now and she glanced around her as if she was bracing herself for something. “With screens. They were in there for a long time. I could see you.”</p>
<p>The Master smiled. Brilliant. He fiddled with his laser screwdriver in his palm, his eyes searching for some sort of idea. What he could do. How he could find them. He stood in silence, staring at the metal wiring around him that extended up to the screens. He glanced down at his laser screwdriver, and his eyes trailed up to the screen. </p>
<p>He knew what to do.</p>
<p>“[Y/N]?”</p>
<p>“Yes, Master?”</p>
<p>“I’m going to try finding you.” He urged. “But what I have to do will stop us from being able to communicate.”</p>
<p>“Okay, wait, before you go, I --” </p>
<p>Before [Y/N] could finish, the Master swallowed and pointed his laser screwdriver at the wiring that connected to the screen, and hopefully, all of the screens around the entire ship.</p>
<p>If he did it right, it would funnel all of the energy into that room and by the feeling of the jolt, he could figure out where they were. </p>
<p>He pressed the button. All at once, the screens flickered in a great flash and went blank with a piercing robotic scream. As he expected, the ship jolted again. This time, he fell forward onto his knees as the energy echoed to the other side of the ship. He sighed and looked up at the end of the corridor. </p>
<p>This corridor seemed to be the longest. An endless line of rooms. At the end (or what had to be the end, he couldn’t tell) was a light so bright that he had to shield his eyes. He put up the hood of his hoodie to block out the reflections off the walls around him. As he squinted, he swore he could see a metal cage all the way at the end of the corridor. But was it just a trick of the light? All he wanted was to run down the corridor, but he cringed and walked carefully, peeking in rooms and squinting down the spidery corridors that extended off that one.</p>
<p>Next to him, he could see an abandoned room of stalls. He continued walking, his eyes tearing up from the light when he stopped at a room with blinking holograms, one of them in a blue suit with eyes closed, the other in a permanent scream, black rivers running down her face.</p>
<p>The Master’s hand went up to his mouth as he let out a frustrated growl.</p>
<p>There she was, his [Y/N] in a pool of light. Through the flicker, he could see a thick gash running down from her neck to her almost naked chest, her ripped t-shirt exposing her ribs and stomach. Normally, he’d smirk at her bare skin, reaching out to place a cold palm on it. She’d squeal and laugh and clutch onto him.</p>
<p>But now, he couldn’t laugh. She wasn’t there. On her flickering body, he could see the circles left, lashes from the Apex as she probably fought them off before they put them in there.</p>
<p>Next to her, the Doctor looked even worse. His suit was disheveled and his face littered with bloody cuts. His eyes were closed and the Master couldn’t tell if he was asleep, or Rassilon-forbid, dead.</p>
<p>The Master closed his eyes and screamed, banging on the door to the room. Was he just interacting with a hologram this entire time? How could he be so stupid? He was going to die here. Even worse, he let her die.</p>
<p>His gaze trailed over [Y/N]’s holographic body before it stopped at her ribs. He swallowed hard. The skin was perfectly clear.</p>
<p>“Master?” He could hear her squeak. He blinked into the room in front of him. [Y/N]’s hologram stared back at him mid-scream. He turned around, standing in the middle of the corridor. He couldn’t see anything. The light was so close.</p>
<p>“Yes, I’m here!” He called back. “[Y/N], I’m here.”</p>
<p>“Master!” She called again.</p>
<p>It was coming from the blinding light. She had to be back there, behind it. He moved towards it with his eyes completely covered, his arm out. He had to look absolutely bloody stupid at that point, working his way down the corridor, but he didn’t care. He had to get to [Y/N]. He moved further down, wiping the tears from his eyes. He covered them completely. He needed to use his hearing. Really hear her.</p>
<p>“[Y/N]!”</p>
<p>“Master!” The scream was strangled as if it hitched in her throat.</p>
<p>As he got past the blinding light, he could see what was causing it. The room he destroyed sat in a pool of light – all of the energy fizzling in one room, wires sparking and screens flashing.</p>
<p>And across from that room was a locked cage with [Y/N] and the Doctor. Not holograms. Not coming through to him on a broken screen.</p>
<p>He immediately fell to the floor across from her.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Okay, so it might be a FOUR-parter, hahaha.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Part Four</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Alas, the end. :') Sorry, it took so long! I've been writing way too much Simm!Master fluff that trying to write this seemed impossible. </p><p>Thanks for reading!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“[Y/N]. Hey, little human, <cite>I’m here</cite>,” the Master whispered urgently as he crumpled to the floor in front of the metal cage that held her. As he spoke, he noticed that his voice strangled in his own throat now. A hoarseness that felt foreign to him, as if he was speaking from a different mouth. But he didn’t care. He found her. After all of that running, talking through screens, and begging for this horrible excuse for a spaceship to understand him, he finally found her. Now, there was nothing to stop him from saving her. There were no screens to talk through, nothing to trick him. </p><p>In fact, the Apex were stupid. There was just a simple set of silver bars separating him from [Y/N]. It wasn’t exactly the most intricate of set-ups. Humans had figured out better prisons than this. For Rassilon’s sake, how stupid could the Apex be? </p><p>As if the Master wouldn’t laser screwdriver the lock open, escape with his human companion and fellow Time Lord, and leave this spaceship to collapse under its own weight. After all, it was draining its own power. He hoped the Apex were still lingering on the ship somewhere. They could finally die off with their own ship, to be nothing but a memory. A pathetic off-brand copy of the Dalek. But that was easier thought than done.</p><p>He was about to pull his laser screwdriver out of his pocket when [Y/N] stopped him, a red palm up in the air. Her eyes bore into him with an intensity he hadn’t seen in a long time, but he couldn’t place the feeling. He couldn’t understand. He needed to do this.</p><p>He frowned and desperately gripped the bars of the metal cage until his knuckles went white. “Why? Would you tell me no?”</p><p>She didn’t answer. Instead, her gaze lingered over to the injured Time Lord behind her. He followed her line of sight down to the Doctor, who was hunched over in the corner, curled over like a little shrimp. Despite his physical appearance, his cheeks covered in tiny cuts and a bloody lip, he looked peaceful, as if he was simply taking a nap.</p><p>A thought he would have never considered before slipping softly into his mind, and this time, he didn’t stop it. He needed to help the Doctor. Part of him – a very distant part of him – felt he had a duty of care to his fellow Time Lord, even if only for [Y/N] who cared about him way more than the Master ever would. He felt a tinge of jealousy at the thought of her loving the Doctor, but he tucked it away with all his other ridiculous thoughts. She loved <cite>him</cite> more – the Doctor was simply something platonic.</p><p>Besides, it seemed too juvenile to him at the moment to consider his and the Doctor’s jagged pasts when they now had a shared enemy: the poor man’s Dalek.</p><p>The Master swallowed hard as he nodded over at the Doctor. “Is he hurt? Is it bad?”</p><p>He didn’t know why he asked. He knew the answer. In fact, he could feel it deep within him – a constant ache. He and the Doctor had a connection as Time Lords, but it was now stronger that they traveled together in the TARDIS. When the Doctor was around, he could feel him – a constant light, the undying presence of a fellow Time Lord. Now that the Doctor was injured, it was a pang in his chest. The feeling in his head was faint, like seeing the beacon of a lighthouse through the fog. He knew the connection was still there. The Doctor was badly hurt, more internally than anything, but <cite>he was still alive</cite>.</p><p>In front of him, the girl nodded softly, only confirming what he knew. She stole another quick glance at the Time Lord, wincing when she saw him as if remembering the pain and the suffering they had gone through together.</p><p>But in one breath, her gaze was suddenly elsewhere. Like a door had closed. She turned away from the Master and the Doctor, her face turning into a grimace. </p><p>The Master’s mouth opened as his breathing picked up. It wasn’t the Doctor that was causing her pain at that moment. He could see it. Something clicked on in her head that wasn’t entirely [Y/N].</p><p>Frustrated at the idea of this ship and its inhabitants still playing with him, the Master gripped the bars of the metal cage, one hand lingering over his laser screwdriver as he watched [Y/N] stare off into the distance, nothing behind her usually bright eyes. He watched in horror and fear that blended into anger. He pushed away his worst fear: the idea that this wasn’t truly [Y/N] anymore. If it wasn’t, the Apex weren’t going to know what hit them. He was going to destroy every last bit of them with his bare hands.</p><p>But then, just as quickly, she was back to normal, squinting at the Master in horror. He cringed. There was a faint telepathic link between her and the remaining Apex, or the ship. He needed to protect her from it, but it was something he had never done before. The idea of it terrified him. The intimacy of it.</p><p>The idea of the Apex using their telepathy disgusted the Master. After all, they were blobs with a metal casing, and their “brains” couldn’t process any proper sort of emotion. They were simply wired for their own benefit – a selfishness he could somewhat understand, but not appreciate. His chest filled with a gnawing sense of unbearable hatred for that alien race. It ripped through him, leaving every feeling in his body amplified. Since his childhood, hatred always worked that way for him.</p><p>But as [Y/N] looked up at him, her eyes red and swollen, he could see all of the emotion back behind her pupils. He pushed away his own selfish feelings for now. There were more important things. Like, the fact that now that he saw her head-on, he could see the bruise that forming under her left eye, making her blinks slow and soft.</p><p>His hearts skipped out of sadness as he stopped to take in the full sight of her.</p><p>She wasn’t the same exact image as the hologram, but she looked too similar for his taste. Her skin was littered with injuries like the Doctor’s – little bloody cuts and slight bruises that showed how much she had been fighting. But the worst, the absolute worst, was the long sear that ran down from her throat to her chest. The Master easily recognized it and let out a shaky breath. It was one from a laser, particularly an Apex laser. It looked as if they marked her for killing.</p><p>He gritted his teeth and looked away for a moment, the emotions filling his chest.</p><p>He couldn’t bear to see her like this. All he wanted to do was tell her that she was safe. He could hold her in his arms again. He would never pretend that his feelings for her weren’t real again. He swallowed hard at the thought. It wasn’t only hatred that could be amplified, but <cite>love</cite>.</p><p>And he loved [Y/N]. He loved a <cite>human</cite>. That was an enormous weight to bear for a fellow human, let alone a Time Lord. </p><p>Time Lords were entirely possessive. Hatred was one thing, but love took over both their hearts and their souls. It was incredibly intimate – taking two separate bodies and letting them become one. To love someone as a Time Lord meant giving a part of yourself to that person, almost like giving your lung or your heart away.</p><p>He knew the Doctor’s familiarity with the feeling of loving a human all too well. In fact, he used to tease him for his tendency to get attached to humans. How silly of him to love something he couldn’t live out the rest of his life with. </p><p>Now, the Master was terrified of having to suffer the same fate. But he loved her, and that’s all that mattered at that moment. And love – well, love was something the Apex could and would never understand.</p><p>[Y/N] simply watched him with tired eyes, her breathing steady but ragged. Finally, she gave him a faint smile, but it obviously pained her.</p><p>“Hi,” she squeaked, a gentleness falling over her face. She gripped the bars above the Master’s hands, hers touching his. She gave him a quick look from head-to-toe, her voice shuttering. “Come to save…a human…and a Time Lord?”</p><p>As she tried to laugh at her own joke, her eyes sparkled at him. But she hissed in pain.</p><p>He raised an eyebrow at her, wincing at her pain. A piece of his old self returned. “We really don’t have time to flirt, darling,” he said through an incredulous laugh.</p><p>Slowly, the smile fell off the girl’s face, replaced by something so soft and irreplaceable that it made the Master’s chest ache and swell all at once. Her eyes were wide and full of an adoration that slightly pained him, yet warmed him. She bit her lip. “I love you.”</p><p>It was like the words jolted his two hearts.</p><p>The Master scrambled to his feet as he yanked his laser screwdriver out of his pocket. He aimed it at the metal lock, closing his eyes as he heard the burning of laser on metal. The girl now stared at him, worry clouding her features. “What if they hurt you, Master?”</p><p>“Yeah? They can’t do a damn thing to me right now,” he spat. “I’d like to see them try.”</p><p>He continued to aim his screwdriver at the lock – sparks flying off as he centered all of his energy towards it. The Apex could do whatever they wanted. But they didn’t understand the power of love. They <cite>especially</cite> didn’t understand the power of love for a Time Lord.</p><p>He waited to see if his laser screwdriver would trigger the Apex into action.</p><p>Nothing.</p><p>Once he heard the clanking of metal on the ground, he rushed into the cage to grab her and hold her against his chest. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” he whispered into her hair.</p><p>“Help him,” [Y/N] mumbled. “Help the Doctor first.”</p><p>At her words, a lightness fluttered in the Master’s chest. It was a fondness that ran through him like a hot drink on a frigid winter day, centered at his core. For once, he understood why humans found themselves to be such an admirable race – they helped others before they bothered to help themselves. While it seemed somewhat stupid to him, he could respect it. He loved everything human about her.</p><p>The Master grinned and gave a reassuring kiss on her forehead, before moving over to the Doctor.</p><p>He had some work to do. After all, healing [Y/N] would be easy. Healing an injured Time Lord? Well, that took a bit more energy. It took some of <cite>his</cite> regeneration energy, to be precise. But if it was for his [Y/N], he was willing to sacrifice a bit of himself. Besides, the Doctor got them into that mess. He needed his help to get them out of it.</p><p>He crawled up to him, cradling the Doctor’s head in his hands. He inhaled, calming himself, moving his energy out over the Doctor through touch. Suddenly, an orange glow enveloped the Doctor. It tangled through the air, falling over his features and –</p><p>The Doctor gasped underneath the Master’s hands, a short sputtering that sounded like someone running out of breath. Then as if none of it happened, he gave a cheeky grin, glancing down at the palms holding him. “Well, haven’t done this in years, have we?”</p><p>The Master rolled his eyes and shoved him off, the emotional connection quickly wearing off. “Can you make yourself useful? Like, I don’t know, remember where the TARDIS is?”</p><p>He was sure the Doctor made a face at him, but he didn’t notice. Didn’t care, really, because he had bolted back to [Y/N], kneeling in front of her.</p><p>“Okay, I’m going to do something, [Y/N], but I need you to let me,” he said, his eyes searching hers.</p><p>She nodded without a word as he pressed his forehead against hers, his hands cradling her cheeks, thumbs brushing against her temples. At once, he was in her mind. He could feel her unraveling underneath his touch, opening her mind to completely welcome him in. But that wasn’t the time for that. That was an entirely different intimate experience for Time Lords.</p><p>Instead, he filled her mind with a distraction – something to help her ignore the pain, something that could close her off to any future telepathy attempts from the ship.</p><p>She melted into his touch, even as he pulled away, his hand still lingering on her cheek. They stared at each other for a bit, her eyes searching his. He noted that the fire in them was back, and it sent his chest into sparks. For Rassilon and all of time itself, <cite>he loved her</cite>.</p><p>“I love you,” she said. This time, it was clearer as her pain melted away into warmth. “I was trying to tell you earlier, before you, you know, short-circuited the entire ship.”</p><p>The Master smiled, brushing [Y/N]’s cheek softly. “I needed to find you.”</p><p>“I’m glad you d-”</p><p>She couldn’t finish her words as the Master couldn’t wait any longer. He grabbed her hungrily and pressed his lips to hers. To him, it was more explosive than the short-circuiting of the ship, so much so that he could see sparks as his eyes shut, the electricity running through his entire body. His hearts pounded against her chest and as he held her face, his mind clouded with pure happiness, a warm comfort that flitted through his mind in the color of cotton candy.</p><p>The Master was slowly losing himself into the kiss when he could hear an urgent hum behind him. The Master didn’t even bother opening his eyes to hear where it was coming from. He was so tangled up in [Y/N] that the world around him didn’t matter.</p><p>Then the sound was even more urgent. The Master opened his eyes to see the Doctor gaping at him. “<cite>Having a moment here</cite>, Doctor,” he snapped as they made eye contact.</p><p>The Doctor rolled his eyes. “You can do it on the TARDIS! Let’s go!” </p><p>He yanked the Master up by his arm, and the Master quickly grabbed [Y/N]’s hand as the three ran out of the metal cage down the hallway.</p><p>The Master glanced back at [Y/N] with raised eyebrows as they followed the Doctor down a series of corridors. The Master tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his throat, seeing all of the different corridors again. It was unnerving. It wasn’t so long ago that he was trying to find [Y/N] and the Doctor. But, as if she sensed his discomfort, [Y/N] squeezed his hand in reassurance, and it all seemed to fall away.</p><p>After walking for what felt like an eternity to the Master, the Doctor finally led them down one last corridor, his sonic up in the air, the blinking blue light leaving him to sense the TARDIS was nearby.</p><p>[Y/N] squeezed the Master’s hand again, this time in anticipation, but something didn’t feel right to him. His instincts were on high as he could hear something mechanical – like a lever lifting as they walked down the long corridor down to the TARDIS.</p><p>He swallowed hard, his fears confirmed as the Doctor’s step shuddered halfway down the corridor. The Master’s eyes fell to the ground to the Doctor’s feet, and as he glanced up, his hearts skipped. It was one of the last remaining Apex and it was dying.</p><p>They all froze in fear at first. But the Master shook his head. He did not spend hours running all over that ship to end up being defeated right at the end. He pulled his laser screwdriver out of his pocket, shooting the Apex down in the middle of his casing, where his top-half met his bottom in a series of wires. The Apex was running out of power, but that had done it. The Doctor and [Y/N] all watched as it twitched, its lights flickering maniacally, but the Master simply shrugged. “It’s about time.”</p><p>The Doctor looked horrified as the Master met his gaze, but he didn’t say anything. All at once, they started walking back to the TARDIS, which to the Master’s surprise, was unharmed and waiting, as if it had no idea what had gone down during this trip.</p><p>When the Doctor opened the TARDIS doors and they funneled in, they all took in a collective deep breath, happy to be back.</p><p>The Master chuckled, pulling [Y/N] into his side. He looked at her with a bright smile before he raised an eyebrow at the Doctor. “I think we deserve a trip to somewhere nice, don’t you?”</p><p>The Doctor nodded knowingly, his gaze falling over the two as he walked over to the other side of the console. “That we do. <cite>Allons-y</cite>!”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi! Thanks for reading. This is probably going to be a two-parter or a three-parter. Let me know what you think. :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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